ABC-7 Exclusive: Patriot group says it is protecting Southwestern U.S. border from ‘invasion’

A group of armed civilians claims it is protecting the Southwestern U.S. border from “an invasion” amidst the surge of immigrants seeking asylum arriving at the border.

The group’s methods are now being questioned.

ABC-7 was given access to the group’s camp and an exclusive one-on-one interview with the spokesman for the United Constitutional Patriots: Jim Benvie.

The section of the border barrier in Anapra that ends at the base of Mount Cristo Rey is in the area Benvie and his group are protecting against what he calls an invasion.

Benvie said, “Immigration is a process that’s done legally, crashing a border in the middle of the night at 3 in the morning is an invasion.”

Benvie said most of the members of his group are former law enforcement and military. He said they are concerned about what is going on with the migrants at the southern border.

Benvie posted a video of his group stopping hundreds of migrants in the middle of the night on the group’s Facebook page. He said he documents every second of interactions with migrants to protect his group and to show America exactly what is going on at the border. Benvie said, that so far, they have stopped about 6,000 migrants attempting to enter the U.S. without the immediate knowledge of Border Patrol agents.

Benvie said, “We don’t just have asylum seekers coming through the border, we have smugglers we have cartel that operate in these hills, there’s a lot of dangers that are not only posed to the border patrol but there are dangers that are posed to America.”

Benvie explained that Border Patrol Agents are stretched thin, leaving security at the border vulnerable.

The ACLU of New Mexico accused The Patriots of being a group of “racist, armed vigilantes” breaking the law.

Benvie denies the accusations and pointed out his group includes Hispanics, African Americans and Native Americans. He also said they are armed for protection, and they have a rule that at no time, is anyone to point a weapon or use a weapon against a migrant. He insists the group is operating within their rights.

“We use verbal commands, we don’t touch people our job is to slow them down,” Benvie said, “sit them down until border patrol can get over there.”

According to Border Patrol, undocumented immigrants are now coming to the US-Mexico border from 60 different countries.

George Gomez, a spokesman for Border Patro, said “We’ve seen people from Bangladesh, Cameroon, Europe, name a country we have probably apprehended this person trying to come in.”

During the interview, Border Patrol gave ABC 7 exclusive access to the southern side of the border barrier, where migrant activity was detected. Two family groups were seen asking for asylum.

The families were from Brazil and declined to answer ABC-7’s questions.

Frank Pino, a spokesman for the Border Patrol, said there is a reason why migrants may not want to interact with media. “Usually, when they come across, they’re already coached. They’re already coached on what to say. They already have a statement to give. So they feel that any other statement they give on camera, that it might differentiate from their original statement and they don’t want that to mess up their asylum case,” Pino said.

Border Patrol has reported record numbers of migrants apprehensions at the border, but insist that they do not need civilian help to protect the border.

Gomez said, “The border patrol has not reached out to The Constitutionalists for assistance. They should just be calling Border Patrol or dialing 911. They technically do not have the authority to detain any individual, that (responsibility) is solely left to immigration officials.

Benvie told ABC-7 portions of his group’s videos on social media are being taken out of context.

He said that the United Constitutional Patriots do not have any communication with the Trump Administration and are not working with the Border Patrol.

He is also calling on Gov. Michelle Lujan-Grisham to send the National Guard to the Southern Border to assist Border Patrol.